This invention relates generally to ground activities relating to the operation of aircraft, and more specifically, to methods and apparatus for e-Enabling a ground architecture to provide interconnection and data sharing among the numerous entities involved in aircraft ground operations.
There exists a wide variety of system solutions targeted to the entities that provide products and services related to aircraft ground operations. These entities are sometimes referred to herein as business domains. However, these business domains are not well integrated with each other or with, for example, the aircraft manufacturer systems. The current method of doing business, at least with respect to aircraft operations (i.e., airplanes, airports, airlines, maintenance and repair organizations, regulatory authorities, and aircraft manufacturers) is an ad-hoc assortment of proprietary systems and standalone solutions. While these standalone systems may do their designated function very well, an improvement would be an integration of these and other systems, such that their various parcels of information could be shared. An additional improvement would result in the interoperability of these systems throughout the various business domains. Such solutions would tend to provide cost-effectiveness and flexibility for airline operation and aircraft related industries.